Cinematic Mechanisms of Immersive Experience in Kapur’s Elizabeth Duology

Authors

  • Nayla Sabrina State Islamic University of Sunan Gunung Djati
  • Hasbi Assiddiqi State Islamic University of Sunan Gunung Djati
  • Dian Nurrachman State Islamic University of Sunan Gunung Djati

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37329/ganaya.v9i2.5147

Keywords:

Cinematic Discourse Mechanisms, Immersive Experience, Biographical Cinema, Chatman's Story-Discourse Framework, Audience Engagement

Abstract

This research investigates the deployment of cinematic discourse mechanisms in Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth duology as vehicles for constructing an immersive audience experience of Queen Elizabeth I's psychological transformation. Drawing on Chatman's story-discourse framework as its primary analytical lens, the study examines how Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) systematically employ medium-specific techniques cinematography, editing, sound design, and mise-en-scène to position spectators as active experiential participants rather than detached observers of historical biography. Qualitative formalist analysis of key transformation sequences demonstrates that the psychological impact of both films derives not from their historical subject matter but from a coordinated orchestration of formal strategies engineered to produce perceptual alignment, emotional mirroring, and subjective spectatorship. Significantly, the deliberate narrative discontinuities between the two films emerge as sophisticated discourse mechanisms in their own right, formally enacting the dissociation inherent in sovereign identity formation and compelling audiences to undertake the same cognitive labor as Elizabeth's own psychological reconstruction. By integrating Smith's character engagement theory, Bordwell and Thompson's account of classical film technique, and Plantinga's embodied spectatorship model, the study establishes that Kapur's duology redefines the conventions of biographical cinema, converting historical representation into phenomenological encounter. The conclusion affirms cinema's singular capacity to generate experiential comprehension of complex psychological processes through deliberate formal manipulation, and offers a transferable methodological framework for analyzing discourse-driven narratives across historical and biographical film genres.

References

Bordwell, D. (2013). Narration In The Fiction Film. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.

Bordwell, D., & Thompson, K. (2017). Film Art: An Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

Chatman, S. B. (1978). Story And Discourse: Narrative Structure In Fiction And Film. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Dobson, M., & Watson, N. J. (2002). England's Elizabeth: An Afterlife In Fame And Fantasy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Herman, D. (2017). Storytelling And The Sciences Of Mind. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Howard, J. E., & Rackin, P. (2002). Engendering A Nation: A Feminist Account Of Shakespeare's English Histories. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.

Kapur, S. (1998). Elizabeth (Film). PolyGram Filmed Entertainment; Working Title Films.

Kapur, S. (2007). Elizabeth: The Golden Age (Film). Universal Pictures; Working Title Films.

Plantinga, C. (2009). Moving Viewers: American Film And The Spectator's Experience. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Smith, M. (2022). Engaging Characters: Fiction, Emotion, And The Cinema. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Sobchack, V. (2020). The Address Of The Eye: A Phenomenology Of Film Experience. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

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Published

25-05-2026

How to Cite

Sabrina, N., Assiddiqi, H., & Nurrachman, D. (2026). Cinematic Mechanisms of Immersive Experience in Kapur’s Elizabeth Duology. Ganaya : Jurnal Ilmu Sosial Dan Humaniora, 9(2), 320–327. https://doi.org/10.37329/ganaya.v9i2.5147

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 2 (2026)

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2026 Nayla Sabrina, Hasbi Assiddiqi, Dian Nurrachman (Author)

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